I have to admit, I don't weigh in topics I'm interested in nearly as much as I should in the Riot posts, but I couldn't help but come here to the comments of this opening page to state that I'm very displeased with this release. To begin, I don't necessarily think that Fiora is in a bad place. I find it interesting that many people complain about her current kit when there are so many ways to counter it (either with a build or with a specific champion), plenty of ways for people to be either advanced or sloppy with her, and plenty of ways to end up in an "Oh ****!" situation for messing up. Contrary to what a lot of people say, I don't often see a "bad" player faceroll people with Fiora. I see MUCH more of that with _Master Yi _
than I do Fiora.
And before everyone starts bringing down the ELO card on me, I'd like to note that you really don't see much of any of the "hard OP carries" in the higher elos like you do in Plat I or above, and that's simply because they are either managed much better by the higher skilled playerbase, or there are simply much fewer people who prefer to advance with them since they have moved on to higher skill/higher reward champions such as Rumble, or Gnarr. Doesn't mean there is anything wrong with any of the champs-- infact, only a handful usually see the LCS on any given season due to how strong they are from a Riot gamestyle change or a specific global tweak that really made them shine. I think Fiora is a good example of a champion that could've and should've stayed exactly where she was.
Her ult also seemed relatively fair to me the way it was, and infact-- it almost punished her for being a bad position and derping the button too soon or just jumping the gun, it was almost guaranteed death. Her dash is not overly ridiculous, and requires careful thought about whether you will dash twice during the duel, dash to the enemy then back to the enmy minion behind you, and don't even get me started about thinking on how to use it for positioning in a 5v5. It all seems pretty simple until you get into the thick of it. W, again, counterbalanced her squishy-ness for a great AD ratio, and the active made for a unique mechanic, working especially well in synergy with her passive. To be honest, it's one of the cooler push-and-pull mechanics I've seen on a champion, even if it was simple. And her e rounded things out very well, focusing on simple attack speed boost with a few nice perks rather than a rather cheap double hit every few strikes with a button-press true damage follow up (shrug, Yi is cheap).
And honestly, to round everything out-- her new model doesn't look nearly as elegant or poised as the old one, and that "rapier" (which is basically now a basket-hilt longsword, suited more for frontline combat than dueling) looks like a _horrid ___ dueling weapon, from which one with lore such as Fiora would probably never use to dance around an enemy or blade waltz. All this focus on the true weapon aside, her outfit looks like something from Star Trek, not a "duelist"'s outfit. The long cape side I understand, but those shoulder pauldrons? Sorry, I don't really think so. And her Nightraven (formerly my favorite of the bunch) skin looks like the ugly cartoon version of Cruella De Vil (if you don't know who I'm talking about highlight the name and "Search for image"). There was nothing wrong with her old model, and there was nothing wrong with her old splash art. It wasn't outdated like Miss Fortunes, and the textures weren't terrible. They obviously aren't Tahm Kench level, but when there are champs like LeBlanc still running around (despite their texture update) I think Fiora still looked great. I say confidently that I think the new design was rushed, and not very well thought out as it pertains to the essence of the character.
I'm not one of those guys who sits in the back complaining about everything, but I felt very strongly about this rework, and as such I have stated above everything I dislike about it. I'm fine with change, and I think of all the online games I've played in the past 12 years of my life RIOT has done the best job of balancing a solely competitive online game of any company I have ever seen (Yeah, you too Blizzard). I enjoy that they are actively evolving the game, but lately it seems like a lot of changes are being rushed, and things are getting just a bit sloppy. This is one in particular that I was gonna let skim by without finally getting on and saying something about it.
Sorry for the long post, I hope you actually read all of it though.
Sincerely,
Knightfall IX ~ A faithful player.
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